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Bush Repeats Call for War Funding Bill With ‘No Strings’

By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2007  President Bush today repeated his intention to veto an emergency supplemental war spending bill if it includes a deadline for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq and unrelated domestic spending.

The House passed such a bill in a 218-212 vote March 23, and shortly after Bush’s remarks today, the Senate passed a similar bill by a 51-48 margin.

“Yesterday I gave a speech, making it clear that I'll veto a bill that restricts our commanders on the ground in Iraq, a bill that doesn't fund our troops, a bill that's got too much spending on it,” Bush said today after a meeting with Republican leaders and members of Congress. “I made that clear to the members.”

The meeting, he said, yielded unity behind his position.

“We stand united in saying loud and clear that when we've got a troop in harm's way, we expect that troop to be fully funded; and (that when) we've got commanders making tough decisions on the ground, we expect there to be no strings on our commanders; and that we expect the Congress to be wise about how they spend the people's money,” the president said.